The cosmic heirs of Hilma af Klint

In 1906, the Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint was “connected” with an ambitious and large-scale project. Af Klint is a member of a small occult organization that conducts seances and communicates with spirit beings, and painting of the temple “Assigned” by one of the artist’s spiritual guides. By the time it was completed in 1915, there were 193 works in total. “The paintings were drawn directly through me, without any preliminary drawings, and with great intensity,” says Clint of One Series. Colourful, geometric and symbolistic, her otherworldly abstract compositions are radical.

After the project was completed, af Klint continued to paint, but her work from 1917 until her death in 1944 was no longer guided by spirits. In 1932, she ordered that many of her paintings be kept secret for 20 years after her death. Even then, the art world was slow to appreciate her work. In 1970, a leading modern art museum in Sweden rejected the af Klint estate. It wasn’t until the 21st century that her work began to resonate.

Following a high-profile exhibition in Sweden in 2013, New York’s Guggenheim held a retrospective of af Klint in 2018, and the frenzy surrounding the mystical artist and his radical spiritual paintings reached fever pitch. reason? “She turned everything we thought about the history of abstraction on its head,” said Nabila Abdel Nabi, curator of international art at Tate Modern.

Today, the fascination surrounding af Klint continues to grow, fueled by a slew of new books and a current blockbuster Tate Modern exhibition Until September 3rd. At the same time, the influence of her lyrical abstraction, and the underlying mysticism and psychic stories, are evident in a group of artists working today.

At first I would dream that I was orange

“I especially love the way she is able to integrate figurative, abstract and diagrammatic organization on the same canvas,” says the Los Angeles-based artist molly green, its surreal configuration has been painstakingly drawn to radiate a soft crystal-coloured glow. “Af Klint cemented my sense of comfort by making symmetrical images,” adds the New York-based Hollowell Lawyers, whose pulsating abstracts were in high demand (over $1 million at auction). “I also love the relationship her work has to the body, the way the large pieces surround you and bring you in.” Hollowell’s body-based work is also autobiographical. “During my first pregnancy, I started drawing with large semicircles; I would combine them with geometric layouts, thinking about the bust, belly, head and buttocks,” she says. The painted surface is also built on foam, creating a 3D element that she has recently pushed further, “bringing an actual physical model of a pregnant belly into the piece”.

Hollowell does not refer to herself or her work as “spiritual.”neither do new yorkers Angela Hayes, whose vibrant abstractions were recently shown at London’s Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (the show sold out before its opening, half of which went to institutions). However, the New Zealand-born painter does use “vibration” as a common theme in these latest works, drawing the viewer into a central sphere reminiscent of a pearl or a planet. She also admits to being interested in “the unknown component that connects us all – trying to move across feelings and emotions”.

in her book Beyond: Women, Art and Spiritual Journeys, Jennifer Higgie wrote for af Klint “The air is full of unseen energy”. “The question is how to interpret them? How to give them shape?” For artists today, the nature of these “energies” is interpreted in different ways. ‘I feel like I’m channeling,’ says Kazakh-born artist Galli familywhose recent exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde’s London gallery featured mystical organic symbols and spectral canvases, which she says began as a dream: “I’ll become a color. I haven’t explained why. But in the beginning I will Dreaming of being orange.”

chilean artist johanna vinzueta Think of af Klint as one of many artists who “understand geometry and abstraction as a means of connecting to a certain metaphysics,” she said. Unzueta’s watercolor and pastel patterns strive to create the same connection; they are dotted with pinholes and often appear as freestanding forms that let light through.los angeles artist Eamon Ogiron agree. His geometric constellations are inspired by “abstract concepts born in America,” but he also feels “friendly relation to method (af Klint’s) – not merely as an exercise in formalism, but as a means of expressing one’s own philosophical thought”.

but spirit and ego are no Different forces in the hearts of French, Belgian-Congolese artists tiffany deroon: “It’s what’s inside of me that guides my practice,” she says. “It’s hard to explain, but maybe it’s a mixture of your ancestors, your spirit, and all your other influences and travels.” Her latest work was made in Accra and exhibited at the city’s gallery in 1957 Out, floral prints are fronted by an ultra-bright palette.

“What af Klint’s work is really about today is the interconnectedness of things,” concludes Abdel Nabi. “The ecological perspective that builds her work asks questions of the very fragile and delicate relationships that make up our universe in ways we’ve never been more aware of. She sees her work as being for future generations — and I think we are that generation .”

Clint and Piet Mondrian’s Hilma: Forms of Life On view at Tate Modern until 3 September